Many thanks from the RSPCA judith its you can always come out of retirement and become an inspector

I was just finishing my TTV at the Wigan Flashes today and returning to my car at Bamfurlong when I heard a Kestrel call - it was on top of a gantry carrying the live electric overhead lines on the W Coast main line railway. As it flew down (possibly carrying something) there was a loud bang and a brilliant flash. I realised the bird had short circuited the current by touching two wires, so went back round to see if it was still alive. It was (though there was another, dead, Kestrel under that gantry) so I called out Network Rail who came pretty quickly, and we got access to the line (which was of course securely fenced off). Fortunately the bird was just shocked and was able to fly off. Meanwhile, I'd had a call about a Barn Owl on the mosslands ,which had also hit wires, and dislocated its wing. The guy who found it knew a bit about birds and managed to put back the dislocation. He gave it some defrosted one-day old chicks (which it declined), and I went down to make sure it was fit for release at dusk, which it was. We have a box nearby so I expect it had come from there.